No major Ballarat events nominated for Community Activity of the Year

AFTER a long list of community events throughout the year, it seems Ballarat may have forgotten to pat itself on the back.

No Australia Day Award for Community Activity of the Year was given by the City of Ballarat because of a lack of nominations for the accolade.

While other municipalities across the country presented the award to organisations and individuals, Ballarat Mayor Joshua Morris could only urge residents to nominate an activity for next year during an award ceremony for other Australia Day honours last Friday.

Cr Morris said the process to nominate for the award was not a difficult one.

“I suppose we were disappointed we didn’t receive any nominations and I suppose we know there are so many great things going on in the community.

“It is just about someone going through the nomination process acknowledging some of these great things,” he said.

The lack of nominations comes on the back of major community activities such as the Ballarat Beer Festival, 3BA Skyworks Spectacular and a wide variety of other summer activities that have occurred across the city in recent weeks.

Both the Moorabool and Pyrenees shires handed out awards for the category during the weekend.

The award can be presented to a group or a person who has staged an outstanding community activity.

However, Cr Morris said he did not expect the same thing to happen next year and put the lack of nominations down to an anomaly.

“All you have to do is see how many Young Citizens of the Year were nominated to see that people are engaging with the awards,” he said.

There were 21 nominations for Young Citizen of the Year, which was awarded to 21-year-old Rebekah Vass.

matthew.dixon@fairfaxmedia.com.au

No Australia Day Award for Community Activity of the Year was given by the City of Ballarat because of a lack of nominations for the accolade.